While most people are already in full new-year-new-you mode, my new year hasn’t exactly taken off with a bang. Instead I’ve spent it recovering from one of the worst bouts of flu I have ever experienced. A flu that no amount of meditation, green juices or yoga was going to prevent: believe me, I tried.
I do realise, as a male, that this whole incident could be dismissed as “man flu” and I will admit to certain symptoms, such as an increased need for attention and a tendency to provide minute-by-minute descriptions of my woes to anyone who cared to listen.
However, this was a flu there was no escaping for three whole weeks, and my only source of comfort in this desperate time of need – beyond constant attention from my wife – was a big bowl of steaming soup. When you have almost forgotten what the outside world looks like, regular bowls of soup can be that all-important ticket out of a murderous, flu-ridden limbo.
Though it is often dismissed as boring and “in between”, soup has so much potential. Apart from its flu-busting properties – when it is filled with restorative ingredients and spices – soup can be a rich and meaty stew, a silky and seductive puree or even a cool, fresh gazpacho or borscht in the summer months. At this time of year there are a handful of soups I turn to for instant comfort and nourishment. Turmeric lends its many healing properties to a stew-like soup filled with cabbage, lentils and winter vegetables. The spice is both anti-inflammatory and a natural antioxidant and, added to soups such as this one, it gives a deep, appealing yellow colour.
Whenever I visit New York City I seek out matzo ball soup, a traditional Jewish dish of bread dumplings served in a rich chicken broth. I like the idea that it’s more than just a warming dish: it’s a promise of comfort, nourishment and heartiness.
While matzo meal, the breadcrumbs of the matzo flatbread, aren’t readily available in Ireland, my version features tender, bitesize dumplings made from chicken thighs. An altogether exotic hot and sour soup relies on the taste combination of spicy, sweet, sour and salty, and delivers a rewarding clear broth, interrupted only by silky strands of cooked egg. Three very different soups but all contenders when it comes to healing many of life’s woes.
